Booby Trap

New uniforms, new credit sequence and Doctor Crusher returned to us but was Season 3 of The Next Generation really as good as we remember? Some of that enthusiasm may have have been generated by relief that the series had not been cancelled but the 1990's also heralded an era of considerably more stability behind the scenes. Senior Trekker will continue to score every episode with a 5.

This delicious episode is special for the way in which it delves deep into the psyche of the typical science "nerd". Geek, techy, STEM person, whatever you like to call them, scientists and engineers tend to a certain personality type that often finds it difficult to form interpersonal relationships, particularly of the romantic kind. The writers got the portrayal of this aspect of Geordi's character absolutely right; he makes a fool of himself when trying too hard but falls very badly when he meets someone with whom he can drop all pretence and just be himself.

And scientists are what Science Fiction should be all about so it's extremely refreshing to get away from the Kirk/Riker "conquest of the week" machismo. Actor LeVar Burton would later complain that he never got enough romance in TNG because "the writers were afraid to show the sexuality of a black man". He is a fine actor but clearly hasn't been around enough real engineers to know how monogamous the male of the species tends to be. Sorting out a working manual for one woman is hard enough, why go through it all over again?

Susan Gibney who played Leah Brahms (or more accurately, her hologram) made a very convincing scientist and returned to Star Trek TNG once more in this role, later appeared twice in Deep Space Nine and was even considered for the role of Captain Janeway in Voyager.

Senior Trekker makes no apology for almost overlooking the plot of this episode: basically the Enterprise triggers a thousand year old booby trap when investigating a derelict ship necessitating a race against time to come up with a fresh bucket of tech in order to save all their lives.